


the dream maker's gonna make you mad

by SpaceguyLewis



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bioluminescence, Eldritch Obi-Wan Kenobi, Enemies to Coparents to Lovers, Good Parent Jango Fett, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Slice of Life, Worldbuilding, thalassophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:54:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28067352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceguyLewis/pseuds/SpaceguyLewis
Summary: The oceans of Cetera-10 are home to many things; great leviathans of the deep, a burgeoning benthic city, several thousand sapients looking to start new chapters of their lives - and among them are Jango Fett and his young son, Boba. With Kyr'tsad a constant threat, a traumatized child to raise and demons of his own he'd rather forget, the five miles of water between Jango and the last vestiges of sunlight might just be the thing to hide him.Although things might be a little easier if there wasn'tsomethingunder Boba's bed.
Relationships: Boba Fett & Jango Fett, Boba Fett & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 21
Kudos: 195





	the dream maker's gonna make you mad

**Author's Note:**

> here it is! i've wrestled with this thing for almost a month and a half and now the first bit is ready! big thanks to the excellent people of the plotbunny server, but especially to kit and mittens, who beta read this and let me yell about Jango being a tired bastard. 
> 
> also, when Boba and Jango speak to each other _in italics,_ that means they're speaking Mando'a.

From orbit, Cetera-10 was a dark marble of green-blue water streaked with the spiraling white-gray arms of a dozen super storms. It stood out sharply from its parent gas giant, Cetera; an immense sphere of orange and gold clouds hanging heavy against the black backdrop of the universe.

Jango turned away from the viewport and looked down at the mop of soft curls tucked into his shoulder. Boba had been out cold for a few hours now, curled up against his chest. He’d been under Jango’s long spacer coat ever since the chill of the freighter’s cargo bay grew too biting for his much smaller body.

The transport freighter began to shake as it started its descent into Cetera-10’s atmosphere. It’s lucky, Jango thought absently, that Boba doesn’t get sick on starships very often. The few other beings in the cargo bay around him braced themselves against the shipping containers around them as the ship dipped and bucked. Jango mimicked them, taking hold of the webbing keeping a stack of crates next to him stable with one hand. He wrapped his other arm around Boba, who let out a sleepy little noise at the pressure. His _ad’ika_ was safely snug in the _birikad_ fastened over his flight suit, but you could never be too careful. 

The rattle of their descent went on for a long while, long enough that Jango got a little bored with watching the handful of other passengers. He looked out of the viewport again, expecting to see the churning surface of the sea far below, but was greeted with the dark heart of a thundercloud instead. Lightning arced outside the ship and left him blinking spots out of his eyes. Jango was about to turn back to face the cargo hold when the cloud cover vanished abruptly. 

Through the rain now streaking across the viewport, he saw massive waves hundreds of feet high churning below the freighter as it zipped along just below the belly of the storm clouds. Jango angled his head to get a slightly better look at where they were headed. In the distance, off near the roiling horizon, a tiny spot of light bobbed on the surface of the sea: the surface dock of an underwater station. 

“ _Home sweet home, Bob’ika,”_ he murmurs to his son, who sleeps on _. “Welcome to Deep Station._ ” 

The freighter approached the surface dock in a wide arc, circling the floating structure while the pilots communicated with traffic control. Jango’s viewport was on the wrong side of the ship to see the dock, so he shifted on his uncomfortable perch atop his cargo container, restlessly bouncing a knee. The freighter leveled out and hovered into one of the forcefield protected landing bays, the sheets of rain from the storm vanishing as they were replaced with the familiar view of a docking bay’s walls. The other passengers began to stand and stretch, some collecting their duffles or knapsacks from where they were scattered around the hold.

Jango stayed seated on his shipping crate as the freighter landed inside the docking bay with a substantial thud, causing the various containers around him to rattle in their restraints. There was a moment of stillness before caution lights started to flash around the walls of the cargo hold and a klaxon began to squawk. Boba jolted against his chest as the massive loading ramp began to open and unfold, giving Jango his first real glimpse of the docking bay. 

It looked much like any other docking bay on a backwater Outer Rim station; mouse droids rushed around the feet of harried workers pushing hover sledges up to begin receiving the shipping containers. The intra-ship comm crackled before a tired voice began instructing the passengers in the cargo bay to disembark. Boba wriggled in his _birikad,_ poking his head fully out of the collar of Jango’s coat.

“ _Buir, are we here_?” his _ad’ika_ chirped, tookatail brown eyes bright with excitement. “ _Put me down, put me down!_ ” He wriggled harder, heels thumping at his upper thighs.

“ _Patience, Bob’ika, patience,_ ” Jango coaxed, sliding down from his perch on his cargo container. It would be sent along to their apartment after they got checked in. He performed a quick inventory check as he shouldered his duffel bag and looped his fingers through the strap of Boba’s little knapsack; his WESTARS were in their holsters, credit pouch secured in the secret pocket under the lapel of his coat, false ID papers tucked into the slit in his left sleeve. “ _I can let you down once we’re out of the docking bay, it’s pretty busy right now._ ”

Boba pouted at this but settled down after a moment, twisting his head to take in as much as possible as Jango walked out of the cargo hold. He followed the other passengers as they moved in a haphazard line down the loading ramp, their boots splashing through the puddles of water dripping down from the upper hull of the ship. 

On the inner wall of the docking bay, a flood door labeled _Arrivals_ in Galactic Basic slid open with a shrill groan, revealing a blue-skinned Twi’lek in heavy-duty diving gear holding a datapad. Next to them was a rickety-looking admin droid, its paint faded and mineral stained. Jango and the other passengers amassed in a loose group just inside the door, which closed behind them after the last person left the docking bay. The Twi’lek looked up from their datapad at the sound of the door sealing shut and nodded at them in greeting before stepping forward and clapping their hands together.

“Hello everyone, welcome to Upper Deep Station! My name is Arion, she/her, and I’ll be checking you all in and making sure you’re all settled.” Her voice was deep and melodic, and she looked down at her datapad again, tapping at it a few times. “I’ll be reading out your names from our arrivals list. When your name is called, please come up to LD-09 here and have him scan your ID documents. Then you’ll be provided with a map showing where in the Habitat you’ll be living and instructions on how to get there. First on our list, Anit Anor…” 

A blue and gray streaked Besalisk moved forward, dwarfing the little admin droid when they offered him their datawork. As he waited Jango took the opportunity and undid the fastenings on his coat, setting Boba’s little knapsack down before carefully loosening the ties that kept his son inside the _birikad._ His _ad’ika_ was nearly vibrating in excitement as Jango set him down on the ground and kneeled to straighten his tunic, brushing wrinkles out of the soft material before handing him his knapsack.

“ _Boba, can you try and stay quiet for me? I’m not sure how long the check-in might take.”_ He asked his son, who nodded vigorously, curls bouncing against his forehead.

“ _Yes, Buir,”_ he promised, smiling brightly as he looped the strap of his bag over his shoulder and straightened it. Jango ruffled his hair and stood, smothering a smile as Boba yelped softly in protest. 

The list went on for what seemed like an age. Boba kept himself entertained by tapping out a few rhythms on Jango’s palm and watching the other passengers — he seemed to be particularly fascinated by the elaborate hairstyle a Keshiri mechanic was sporting. Jango shifted his duffel from one shoulder to the other and rubbed at the sore muscle, realizing with a tired acceptance that he’d be feeling every bit of turbulence tomorrow. He was so tied up in his thoughts that he nearly missed his name being called. 

“Jango Naasade and Boba Naasade,” Arion said; Boba, happy to be moving after the long quiet, grasped his hand and tugged him forward towards the admin droid. Jango let Boba lead the way, but put a gentle hand on his shoulder to slow him down a little when they drew close. 

He reached into his sleeve and pulled out the two ID documents he’d kept in the lining, passing them to the droid to be scanned. Jango knew they were airtight fakes - he’d paid far too many credits for them not to be — but he still felt a slight pang of anxiety when the droid took a few moments longer to return them and their map of the habitat. 

“Welcome to Upper Deep Sation, Ser Naasade and Ser Naasade,” LD-09 greeted. “Enjoy your stay!” 

Jango nodded at the droid and Arion, then walked down the hall, Boba skipping along behind him. He stopped a little ways down the hall and activated the map, crouching so he could show Boba. A holo of the surface dock — Upper Deep Habitat — appeared, floating in miniature above Jango’s hand. 

_“Ad’ika, this is the Station,”_ he explained, smiling softly at the wonder in Boba’s eyes. Upper Deep Station was a large, buoyant ring of docking bays around a central tower that plunged over seven hundred feet below the surface. The holomap showed several massive chains tethering the bottom of the tower to the seabed near Lower Deep Habitat. _“We’ll be living somewhere near the bottom of the Spindle, the big tower in the center.”_ He pointed to a yellow line leading from the docking ring down to the bottom of the Spindle and traced its path with his finger. 

_“Are we taking an elevator down, or are there stairs?”_ Boba asked dubiously. There had been an incident involving an out-of-order elevator and almost a dozen flights of stairs a few connecting flights ago on Corellia.

“ _It looks like there’s an elevator, don’t worry,”_ Jango reassured him, standing back up again and taking Boba’s hand when he reached out. “ _There might be a few stairs, though. No more than four.”_

 _“Four?!”_ Boba cried with mock panic as they continued down the corridor. _“I don’t know, I don’t think I can handle four stairs, buir.”_

Jango laughed as they turned a corner and an alcove with several sets of elevator doors built into the wall. Boba released his hand and darted forwards to press the down button on the rightmost set, then backed up to join Jango as they waited for the car to arrive. It took a few moments for the elevator to chime and the doors to slide open, revealing an empty car with a bench that ran around three walls of the car.

Boba led the way inside and set his knapsack down on the bench as Jango took a seat, swinging his duffel off of his shoulder and setting it on end between his knees. Boba opened his bag up and began to rifle through it as the doors slid closed. The elevator car began to descend with a slight jolt, and Boba made a little noise of success as he pulled his coat out of his bag. Jango held out a hand and smiled at him.

 _“Ad’ika, would you like me to hold it for you?”_ He asked, and Boba shook his head.

 _“I got it buir, thanks!”_ He opened up the zipper and began to wriggle into the garment, but somehow became stuck halfway inside. The face he made when he turned to look at Jango was a delightful mix of sheepish and disgruntled. _“I changed my mind. Help, please?”_

Jango only just barely smothered the grin tickling at his cheeks. “ _Of course, ad’ika.”_ Boba wriggled out of his coat and passed it over. Jango shook the garment out and held the lapels open so Boba could easily step inside it. As he did so the elevator slid to a stop and let out a soft tone, announcing their arrival at the correct floor. 

Boba zipped up his coat as Jango stood and shouldered his duffel, then he reached out and wove his small hand around his father’s. The door slid open and they emerged from the elevator together — expecting to enter the check-in area of a residential floor — but emerged somewhere else entirely.

 _“I don’t think this is our apartment complex, buir,”_ Boba said, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

 _“Neither do I, ad’ika,”_ Jango replied, thoroughly astounded.

The entire floor was a transit hub of some sort; the space was open other than the elevator shaft, and the outer walls were massive panels of transparisteel that allowed an observer to look out into the black-blue of the ocean. Two large moon pools were built into the floor; one was occupied by a large bathycraft that a team of droids and two Nautolan supervisors were loading with cargo. The floor between the two moon pools was taken up by a help desk and several rows of benches. A Mirialan was sitting behind the help desk and typing something into a holoterminal, their face tired and eyes magnified by a pair of rimless glasses.

Boba let go of Jango’s hand and began to walk forward with a charmingly purposeful stride. “ _Come on, buir, let’s ask for directions!”_ he said cheerfully, and Jango followed after him. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the quiet as they approached, and Jango saw the Mirialan look up from their holoterminal. First they caught sight of Boba, and they smiled, reaching behind their holoterminal for a reusable water bottle. They opened the container and took a sip out of it as their eyes drifted up from Boba to himself. 

Their eyes widened and they shuddered as they almost choked on their water; probably having swallowed it too fast. They coughed a little and took another sip as Boba reached the counter and put his arms up on it. Jango drew even with him a few moments later as the Mirialan — who, according to the little nameplate on the back of their holoterminal, was named Tuyal and used they/them pronouns — recovered enough to speak.

“Hello, welcome to the Moon Pool Level. Can I help you with anything today?” Tuyal said in a slightly rough voice, gaze steady on Jango’s face. He shivered a little at the scrutiny and cleared his throat to answer, but was interrupted by Boba.

“We’re looking for our house, and the map said it would be here!” he explained, and Tuyal smiled, the diamond patterns on their cheeks creasing. Jango pulled out the holomap and activated it before setting it down on the counter between them.

“As my _ad_ said, we’ve just arrived and are looking to get settled in our apartment. The check-in clerk up on the docking rings gave me the map, but it just led us here.” He explained. Tuyal examined the map for a moment, then made a noise of exasperation and began typing away at their terminal.

“Yes, that happens on occasion,” they said, picking up the holomap and plugging it into the side of the terminal. As the data loaded up, Tuyal raised an eyebrow and hummed. “Okay, I see the problem here. Your apartment isn’t on Upper Deep Sation or in the main boroughs of Lower Deep Habitat — it’s actually in the new residential expansion, Dark Habitat.”

“Dark Habitat?”

“It’s a project by the sector government to increase housing and develop new undersea construction techniques. The whole place is down on the bottom of an oceanic trench a few miles away from Deep Habitat. The reason your map led you down here is because you’re going to need to take a bathycraft down there.” Tuyal unplugged Jango’s map from the terminal and passed it over. When Jango activated it, there was much more to be seen on the little hologram: Upper Deep Station was a tiny streak of light at the surface of the ocean, and Lower Deep Habitat was a massive sprawl of mid- and high-rise buildings laced together with a network of monorails and skybridges. Then, off to the side, a long way down, was a small smear of purple light. The yellow directional line ended there.

“I see. Thank you for your help, Tuyal.” He nodded his head in thanks, then shut off the holomap and passed it to Boba, who was eyeing the projector disk with great interest. “What time will the ferry depart for Dark Habitat?” The Mirialan gave him a slow smile, their eyes going half lidded.

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, don’t worry.” They typed something at the terminal and hummed at what they saw. “The bathycraft will start loading passengers in about thirty minutes and will depart in about forty five minutes.” They seemed to weigh their words for a moment, and glanced at Jango through their eyelashes. “Will you be coming back through Upper Deep anytime soon?” Jango shifted at the odd undercurrent in their voice, a little disconcerted. 

“No. I, ah, I’ll be pretty swamped settling in.” He nodded at them and their smile fell the barest amount before it regained its previous intensity. “Thank you again.” He backed away, gently tugging Boba along after him. They settled down on a bench near the moon pool with the bathycraft floating in it. 

Jango tucked his duffle between his knees for safekeeping as Boba climbed up on the bench and crawled into his lap. Once they’d arranged themselves so Boba was halfway tucked inside Jango’s coat again, his _ad’ika_ activated the holomap and poked at the projection a few times, zooming in on the purple wireframe that made up Dark Habitat. A few labels in Galactic Basic began to appear when the map became detailed enough to show the layout of the neighborhood. The yellow directional line ended in one of the outer buildings, a place labeled by the map.

“ _Buir, it looks like there’s a park down there!”_ Boba enthused, pointing at a long rectangular building built from large facets and a framework lattice. Within the latticework building were a few tiny trees. Jango bounced his knee a little bit, tilting his head to smile at Boba.

“ _That’s good news, ad’ika. It won’t be all duracrete and durasteel down there, even if it’s dark.”_

Boba continued to explore the updated holomap, making quiet comments on the different structures and their descriptions: there was a large fishery and processing plant, a plaza that housed an open-air marketplace, a few different bars and cantinas, and the many high-rise residential buildings around their own. After while Boba fell silent again, content to peruse the map on his own. With the combination of Boba’s warm weight on his lap and a seat that didn’t buck and sway with turbulence, Jango’s eyes grew heavy and his head began to nod. In his exhaustion he lost track of time, the only measurement being the few minutes of painful lucidity between his eyes sliding shut again.

He was awakened fully by Boba shaking his shoulder gently.

 _“Buir, wake up!”_ he said, sliding out of Jango’s lap once he was satisfied his father wasn’t going to fall asleep again. _“The bathycraft is boarding passengers now. Let’s go, I wanna get a window seat!”_ Jango nodded, a yawn taking hold of his jaw and making his eyes water.

“ _Okay, okay, Boba, I’m awake, I promise,”_ He murmured, rising from the bench and pulling his duffel onto his shoulder once more. Boba led the way to the bathycraft, waving goodbye to Tuyal as he skipped past the help desk. One of the Nautolan supervisors scanned their holomap and waved them on board disinterestedly.

The bathycraft was already occupied by a few other passengers. One Jango recognized from the freighter — a Zabrak with green skin and metallic gold tattoos. The others wore the flight suits and coveralls Jango was beginning to associate with the people living in the Habitats. He followed Boba as he ran down the aisle and slid into a seat about two thirds of the way down the bathycraft, huddling right up against the window as Jango followed him at a more sedate pace. After he took his seat, Jango slid his duffel underneath the bench and gently nudged his shoulder against Boba’s, who turned to him and grinned, excitement sparkling in his eyes.

 _“The sea will get dark very quickly. Are you gonna be okay with that?”_ Jango asked him gently. Boba was still afraid of the dark long after Jango himself had grown out of it, but he supposed it only made sense; Boba was afraid of the dark because he didn’t have anything scarier to be afraid of anymore. Boba frowned at him, his little face turning firm and serious. 

_“I… I think I will be okay, buir.”_ He brightened a little. “ _The bathycraft has inside lights anyways, so the dark can’t get in.”_

Jango was prevented from replying by a soft tone ringing through the inside of the transport, and the doors began to close at last. There was a hiss as they sealed and pressurized, and a heavy _thud_ as the docking clamps released the bathycraft into the moon pool. Slowly, their view through the window turned into the deep, abiding midnight of the sea as the bathycraft sank away from the transit station. Once they had sunk several dozen feet, the jets that propelled the bathycraft kicked in and they began to descend more quickly. 

It didn’t take long for all traces of light from above diffused throughout the water around the bathycraft, turning it into a seemingly endless void of dark blue. Beside him, Boba let out a little gasp.

 _“Buir,”_ he whispered, wonder coloring his voice with a hushed awe. “ _What is_ that?” He pointed out of the window at the water. Jango leaned over him to look through the glassine, cupping a hand to block the slight glare from the bathycraft’s internal lights.

At first he saw nothing, and was about to ask Boba precisely what he’d seen when he caught sight of the barest flicker of teal blue in the distance. No, not in the distance — right near the glassine was a strange segmented little creature, its internal organs visible through the slight outline of its transparent shell. The thing was almost like a shrimp, its long antennae studded with glowing spots. It danced in the current of the bathycraft’s jets, and as they sunk deeper more and more little shrimps began to appear, their countershading vanishing as the waters grew darker.

Soon larger and larger creatures began to emerge from the gloom — jellyfish with shimmering iridescent cilia lining their gelatinous bodies, their bell-shaped forms pulsing as they funneled water into their feeding tentacles. Schools of fish with bodies glowing in a hundred shades of blue, green, and yellow loomed out of the dark and were snapped up by larger predators with long, needle-like teeth. There was even a cephalopod of some sort; its massive, astrodroid-sized eyes reflected the lights of the bathycraft back at Jango and Boba as they stared at it in turn. Its skin was a gory red, webbed with pale pink scar tissue that shimmered in the light as the bathycraft descended past it. 

_“Why do they glow, buir?”_ Boba asked as a particularly magnificent looking jelly with long, neon red tentacles floated past. 

“ _Many reasons, I think. Camouflage, luring prey, attracting others of their species to reproduce.”_ Jango said, just as enchanted with the otherworldly sights drifting by them as they sunk deeper and deeper. Within the bathycraft, a meter kept reading out their depth; they were about three quarters of an hour into the journey to Dark Habitat and only a third of the way there. 

_“Hm. Do you know_ how _they glow?”_

 _“... well, it’s a chemical reaction. Two compounds, luciferins and luciferases, are mixed in the creature’s glowing organs — called photophores — and release light as a product of the reaction. Depending on the kind of luciferins the color of the light can be anywhere on the spectrum, even ultraviolet or infrared.”_ Jango explained. It was a little complex for a six year old, but Boba had digested and understood much harder concepts before. Jango watched as Boba turned the explanation over in his head, a little worried that he'd made it too technical — but then Boba nodded to himself and smiled.

 _“Okay. Makes sense to me, buir!”_ He turned back to the window and gasped in delight, pointing out at a long, ribbonlike fish that was floating vertically in the water. _“Oh, wow! Look at that!”_

 _“I see it, ad’ika,”_ Jango said, and they watched as the great length of it drifted into view and back out again, its fine scales reflecting the lights of the bathycraft in a thousand silvery ripples.

Every few minutes, a new wonder of the deep revealed itself to them; swarms of tiny plankton that glittered and pulsed like a Coruscanti nightclub, siphonophores shaped like elaborate chandeliers that sparkled with yellow-green light, and a great shark-like creature that cruised through the water with its toothless maw agape as it filtered food with its exposed gill rakers.

After a while Jango looked back at the depth meter on the inner wall of the bathycraft and was surprised to see that they were only ten or so minutes away from Dark Habitat. He nudged Boba and pointed at the meter.

 _“We’re almost there,”_ Jango said, shifting in his seat. _“Only a little bit longer._ ” Boba nodded and looked out the window again, trying to peer down and perhaps catch a glimpse of their new home.

 _“I think I can see light, buir,”_ He relayed in a puzzled tone. “ _They don’t underlight the buildings, do they? That seems like a waste of energy.”_

 _“I don’t think it’s that either, ad’ika. Let’s wait a little and see.”_ Boba scooted closer to the wall, motioning for Jango to look out the window with him. Ever so slowly, as the bathycraft made its final descent, the first glimpses of buildings loomed up from the strange, diffused light that filled the water. They were shaped like terrestrial cloudscrapers, and more and more buildings came into view as they descended towards one side of the Habitat. Soon they were sinking past the buildings, and the source of the light revealed itself.

It was a kind of giant algae growing in long spindly stalks; some appeared to be almost a hundred feet tall. They were festooned with long leaflike blades that twisted and danced in the current; wherever the blades touched one another, their surfaces bloomed with light and color. The algae grew in a great forest around the base of the Habitat and between its towers, sending light flickering up across the buildings above. The bathycraft set a whole swath of algae aglow as it flew above them, headed towards a building with _Bathycraft Port Besh_ painted onto its outer wall. The craft came to a halt next to a closed flood door, which slid open and allowed it to drift inside a vertical chamber.

The bathycraft surfaced in a froth of bubbles, slowly ascending in the moon pool of the bathycraft port. Its architecture was identical to Upper Deep Station, but where Deep Station had a wealth of space, Dark Habitat was not nearly as roomy. Boba wriggled excitedly next to Jango as the docking clamps secured the bathycraft and its door depressurized and unsealed. Jango slid out of his seat, snagging his duffel as he went and waited in the aisle for Boba to follow him. Boba jumped in place and grabbed Jango’s hand as they waited for the other passengers to disembark, then exited the bathycraft. 

Dark Habitat’s bathycraft station had its help desk built into the inner wall, and a holo of the entire district projected onto the outer window. After a quick once over of the map Jango and Boba headed for the open archway labeled with a sign that read _Habitat Transit Station_. 

They passed through the archway and up a flight of stairs covered by a curved glassine ceiling, then onto the station platform proper. A few dozen sentients were milling around, waiting calmly for the transit car to arrive. Jango went over to the holoprojection of the transit map and cross-referenced it with his own map of Dark Habitat. Apparently they needed to board the soon to arrive transit and ride it eight stops to a place called Al’asiia Station. 

“ _Buir,”_ Boba tugged on his sleeve and pulled him out of his thoughts. “ _The transit car is here!”_ Jango looked up and saw that a smooth looking train of four cars still dripping with seawater had glided into the empty tracks on the other side of the platform. He took Boba’s hand and they walked briskly to the second car in the line; Boba boarded it with a little hop. They sat together in one of the forward-facing benches and watched as a stream of sentients either disembarked or followed them onboard. After about five minutes the transit car chimed softly and the doors sealed themselves with a familiar pneumatic hiss. It began to move forward smoothly, passing into a dark airlock section that sealed behind the fourth car. Around them water began to flood the airlock chamber until there was no air left inside, at which point the outer door opened into the ocean proper. The transit car began to move again, angling upwards the slightest amount as the rail ascended into the middle levels of the Habitat. The transit rounded the broad side of the bathycraft port building and the main sprawl of Dark Habitat came into view.

There were magnificent high-rise buildings, some still under construction, lit from below by the dancing shimmerkelp and slightly obscured in places by the scalding clouds pouring out from hydrothermal vents. Thousands of species of fish flowed in schools or singly between the buildings; great clouds of jellyfish flowed with the currents rising from the depths towered past the highest buildings. As the transit slid between the mid rise buildings, gaining and losing passengers with every stop, Jango watched a great dome of glassine and durasteel latticework loom into view - the park Boba had seen on their map. The park dome vanished as transit entered a building and came to their final stop — Al’asiia Station. Jango and Boba disembarked with the rest of the outgoing passengers onto the station platform. 

They walked out of another open archway onto a gantry that had two sets of stairs on either side of it, either going up one more level or descending to the ground floor. A breeze flowed in from another set of archways, the scent of growing things carried upon it. Jango and Boba exited the covered section of the station onto the gantry and were met with the extraordinary sight of plants over two miles down from any residual trace of sunlight.

The park below them was a feat of engineering. Long, spindly trees with pastel leaves dominated the space, growing strong under the solar light array hanging from the vaulted glassine ceiling above. Soft looking moss blanketed the open spaces of the park, where a few different groups of sentients were playing ball games or enjoying a meal. The main field of the park was bordered by a wide footpath, and set into the high walls beneath the bottom of the high ceiling were various shops and restaurants. At the far end of the park sat the entrance of the residential building looming above the park dome. A glowing holosign declared it _Pyrifera Suites_ \- and the directory line on Jango’s holomap was pointing them right inside.

 _“This is so cool, buir,”_ Boba enthused quietly. “ _I wasn’t expecting there to be actual trees you could climb and moss you could sit on down here!”_

_“And it’s quite close to the apartment - once we get settled in, we can come down for a visit, ad’ika.”_

They set out across the skyways that criss crossed above the park, the long thin leaves of the pastel trees rustling in the artificial wind. It took them a good ten minutes to make it across the park to the other end, where their skyway connected with the entry level of Pyrifera Suites. The façade of the building was elegant pourstone that mimicked the look of natural marble, and the accent features had the green patina of weathered bronze. The glass doors slid open as they approached, letting them enter a large, elegant lobby with several long windows set into the walls, a reception desk in the middle of the room, and three sets of elevator doors at the far end. They walked up to the reception desk, and Jango nodded politely at the hospitality droid behind the counter.

“Welcome to Pyrifera Sutes,” It chirped at him, making a little bow of welcome. “Are you looking to rent an apartment today, or are you here to begin your residence?”

“The latter, thank you,” Jango replied, and Boba tugged on his coat. “ _Yes, ad’ika?”_ He asked in Mando’a.

 _“I’m gonna go look at the fish,”_ He said, pointing to one of the large windows on the left side of the room, outside of which a school of stout, diamond shaped fish were schooling together. _“Will you come get me when you’re done?”_

 _“Of course, go have fun!”_ Jango encouraged, patting his shoulder. Boba grinned widely and scampered off, so Jango turned his attention back to the droid. “Sorry about that. I am here to begin my residence.”

“It is no trouble at all. May I see your identification card and confirmation chip, please?” The droid replied, and Jango extracted both items from his sleeve and slid them across the counter. It set both into readers under the far edge of the counter, then removed them and passed them back to Jango.

“Everything appears to be in order, Ser Nasaade,” It said, then pulled a set of three codefobs out from beneath the desk and handed them to him. “Your apartment is number 947, on the ninth floor of the building. You will be able to reach it the quickest by taking the middle elevator.”

“I see. Thank you.” Jango nodded politely at the droid and turned to look at the window where Boba had run off to. He was there, backlit by the ever present glow of the shimmerkelp — along with a small Pantoran girl. He walked up to them and caught the end of their conversation.

“ — and they’re not native to Cetera-10, actually — my mama says that nobody actually knows where they come from because they’re so widespread across the galaxy — oh.” The Pantoran girl fell silent when she caught sight of Jango. Boba grinned at his father, running up to grab his hand and gently tug him forwards. 

“ _Buir, buir!_ This is Irula, her family moved in a few months ago. Irula, this is my _buir.”_ Boba introduced. Irula smiled at Jango and raised her hands palm up — a very polite form of Pantoran greeting. Jango mimicked her, spreading the fingers of his hands in acceptance of her welcome.

“Hello, Irula. You can call me Jango.” He ruffled Boba’s hair. “I see you found someone to look at the fish with.”

“Yep! They’re called tookafish,” he pointed at the school of fish congregated outside the window, their long whiskers and striped patterns quite similar indeed to a tooka. “Irula says they’re nonnat - nona - _nonnative_ to Cetera-10.” Boba finished, switching into Mando’a for the word he couldn’t pronounce in Basic.

“Is that so?” Jango said, and Irula nodded, the little tassels in her hair jingling with her movements. 

“Mm-hm! My mama says they were brought along as bait for the gloamfish, but some escaped and ended up forming a breeding population. She works as a bathycraft hunter for the fishery, so she’d know.”

“She definitely would, in that case.” Jango affirmed. “Boba and I need to get going now - we’re gonna start moving into our apartment - but maybe you and my _ad’ika_ will see each other again soon, Irula. It was lovely to meet you.” He held out his hands again, palm down this time, and Irula accepted his farewell by mirroring him and spreading her fingers.

“That’d be super cool!” She slid off of the window bench and started walking towards the exit backwards, waving as she went. “Bye-bye, Boba! See you later, Ser Jango!” Then she was gone, her little form vanishing through the sliding doors and out onto the platform level. Boba leaned into Jango’s side and looked up at him, eyes bright.

 _“Irula is really cool, buir!”_ He gushed as they began walking for the elevators. “ _She knows a lot about the fish that live in the city, ‘cause of her mama’s job, but she said that she really likes looking at all the different plants out in the park.”_ He darted forward to press the call button on the middle elevator and bounced in place a little as they waited for it to arrive.

 _“Oh yeah? Did she tell you why, Bob’ika?”_ Boba nodded as the light above the elevator doors went on and they slid open. 

_“It’s ‘cause they used to live on Empress Teta before they moved here, and there aren’t any plants or big wide spaces at all.”_ Boba answered as he walked backwards into the elevator car, leaning up against the bronze handrails.

 _“That makes sense. If I had grown up in a place like that I’d be very curious about plants too.”_ Jango answered as he followed Boba inside and hit the button for the ninth floor. _"Do you know if Irula goes to the local school, Boba?"_ Boba frowned for a moment, then shook his head, curls bouncing. 

_"Sorry, buir, I didn't ask. I was too excited about the fish."_ Jango patted his shoulder softly.

_"That's okay, ad'ika. Maybe we can ask her if we see her before you start there."_

The elevator clunked a little as it came to a stop, the doors sliding open to reveal a long hallway set periodically with twisting, almost organic light fixtures. Jango and Boba stepped out of the elevator and glanced left, then right; more hallway with the same features led down both directions.

“ _I think it's down this way, buir,”_ Boba said after a moment, pointing to the yellow line on the holomap that directed them to follow the hallway directly in front of them. Everything was quiet other than the soft squeak of the soles of their boots on the linoleum flooring. They went through another junction before the hallway they were following came to a T intersection. Boba tugged him down the left leading hallway, and they walked about halfway to the corner of the residential tower before the yellow line ended in front of a door _-_ labeled 947 in Aurebesh characters.

Suddenly nervous, Jango fished around in his pocket for the keys and unlocked the door, his fingers trembling a little. The door clunked as the tumblers spun, and then slid sideways into the wall, revealing a dark hallway. Jango stepped inside and turned on the lights, which revealed a little mud room set a step lower than the rest of the apartment. It had coat hooks and cubby holes for shoes on the left wall and a closet door on the right. Jango set down his duffel as Boba sat on the step and began to undo the fastenings of his boots, kicking them off and stuffing them into a cubbyhole excitedly. Jango removed his coat at a more sedate pace, hanging it carefully on a hook and doing the same with Boba’s when his _ad_ passed it to him. Boba laughed in delight as he scrambled down the hall, socked feet sliding on the synthwood flooring. He rounded the corner and vanished from view as Jango sat and removed his own boots. 

_“Buir!”_ Boba called from an unseen room as Jango tucked his boots into one of the cubby holes and undid the straps of his holsters. _“Buir, there’s a window in the living room, and it looks out over the kelp forest!”_ He hung the holsters on one of the higher hooks before moving down the entryway, pausing to flick on the lights that Boba had missed in his excitement. They let off a warm orangey light, calibrated to mimic yellow-star sunlight and prevent diseases common among workers who didn’t see a sun for months at a time. The hall opened up into the kitchen and living room, which were separated by a breakfast bar. Boba was sitting on the sill of a bay window, his face reflected closely in the thick glassine. Outside, the stalks of shimmerkelp swayed in the currents, the edges of their blades sparking and scintillating with color as they brushed up against each other. Jango walked up and rested his hand gently on Boba’s shoulder, smiling at him when his _ad_ turned away from the view to grin up at him.

“ _I’m going to look at the bedrooms,”_ Jango told him. _“Do you want to come with me or stay here?”_

 _“I’ll stay here, I wanna see if there are any fish!”_ He smiled and ruffled Boba’s hair, turning back around and walking out of the living room.

 _“Okay. Let me know if you see any interesting ones!”_ Jango called back to him as he walked back down the hall. On the right side of the hallway were two doors. One led to an empty room that could serve as an office space or something similar; it had a door in the back right corner that when opened revealed a linen closet. Jango left the door open and returned to the other door, which led to the fresher. His cheek dimpled slightly in a momentary smile as he realized that running out of hot water in the shower wouldn’t be a concern down here. 

At the very end of the hall there was a sliding door, behind which were the washer and dryer units. Jango squeezed into the narrow maintenance space between the units and the wall and fumbled his hand behind them to check the valves and hoses feeding into the wall. In the sliver of light pouring in from the hallway all of the connections looked to be in order so Jango extracted himself from the maintenance space. 

On the left side of the hall were two more doors; they each led to a bedroom with a closet cut into one wall. Jango entered the one closest to the washer and dryer, taking in the space.

The room was square, about twelve feet on a side, with a bay window dominating the wall opposite to the door. The floor was the same synthwood material as the rest of the apartment. It was nice enough, even without any furniture - but it was very cold, as if the heating ducts were closed. It was rather unsettling, and it made Jango’s forearms prickle with goosebumps. He backed out of the room and entered the other one.

It was identical to the first bedroom, but the temperature was pleasant in comparison. He walked to the bay window and peered out of it, seeing more of the shimmerkelp forest coruscating in the distance. 

_“Buir! Buir! There’s a tookafish! There’s a whole bunch of tookafish!”_

Jango smiled and exited the bedroom, walking back down the hall and emerging into the kitchen. He could see the vague shapes of fish moving outside the window in the living room, backlit by the shimmerkelp. He could see them more clearly as he entered the living room, and the details of their blunt little bodies became apparent when he sat down next to Boba in the window seat.

They were more or less identical in shape to the tookafish that had been schooling outside the lobby windows, but these ones came in dozens of different patterns. There were ones with rosettes on their scales and striped ones in shades of silver, brown, and orange; solid color ones, ones with color concentrated on their fins and faces, and even a few with markings that glowed the same shade as their bright, jewel-like little eyes.

 _“That’s a lot of tookafish, Boba,_ ” Jango remarked, and Boba let out a soft sound of joy.

“ _I know! And they’re so pretty! I wonder if some of them are friends with the tookafish we saw downstairs.”_

 _“I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were,”_ Jango beckoned for Boba to follow him into the hall. _“I checked out the bedrooms, and they’re both exactly the same, so I thought you’d like to pick yours first.”_ Boba nodded and headed for the first room, the one with the slightly odd cold spot. Jango watched from the doorway as he placed his hand on the wall and began to walk the perimeter of the room, setting the sides of his feet right up against the wall. He arrived at the bay window and climbed up into the seat, facing towards the doorway and swinging his legs.

 _“I think this one is mine.”_ He told Jango, who raised an eyebrow even as he nodded in acknowledgement. 

_“You sure? You haven’t even looked at the other one, ad’ika.”_

_“I know, but this one feels_ right."

 _“That’s fair. If the room feels right, the room feels right.”_ Jango’s stomach twinged a little, and he realized it had been quite a while since he’d eaten. _“Boba, would you like to get some takeout delivered? I saw a barbecue place out by the park.”_ Boba perked up at the mention of barbecue.

“ _Yes please, buir! Irula said that there were some takeout menus in one of the drawers when her family moved in.”_

“ _Let’s see if there are some in our kitchen, then.”_ Jango ruffled his _ad’s_ hair. _“Will you help me look, Bob’ika?”_

Boba nodded brightly, and they trooped into the kitchen and began pulling open all the drawers and cabinets. They found a stack of five takeout menus in a drawer next to the pantry, so they sat on the floor to browse through them.

One was for the barbecue place Jango had seen, _Laagnuil Kitchen_. The rest were for a noodle soup restaurant, a bubble tea bar, a bakery, and a tapcafe that offered an array of sandwiches. Boba’s stomach growled at the sight of the different pastries available from the bakery.

 _“If we get up early tomorrow, we can go get breakfast there - that sound good to you?”_ Boba whooped and raised his hands in the air in delight. “ _Okay, okay, ad’ika. Let’s pick out latemeal first, then we can worry about breakfast.”_

After much debate on the merits of bangcorn nuna they settled on the noodle soup restaurant, so Jango opened up his datapad and connected to the Habitat network. The directory had a listing of all the canteens and eateries in the Habitat, and it only took a few moments for Jango to find the noodle place.

“ _What would you like, Bob’ika?”_ He asked as he picked his own food - curry broth with cubes of fried neral tofu and an assortment of vegetables. Boba leaned over to look at the menu and hummed in thought.

 _“Can I have the spicy shaak bowl?”_ He asked.

“ _Of course. They’ve got some fried shrimp and gourd slices too, if you want a side.”_ Boba shook his head. 

“ _No thank you, buir, just the soup is good.”_ Jango nodded and ordered, then navigated back to the business directory and located the page for the closest printing depot.

 _“Let’s pick out some furniture for your room, ad’ika.”_ Boba perked up, then came over and sat down in Jango’s lap, sitting curled up against his chest. 

The furniture catalog was massive, and after filtering it for sets that weren’t so expensive as to be outrageous but still of good quality, they ended up with a much more manageable selection to browse through. 

_“Let’s start off with the bedframes first,”_ Jango suggested, opening up the bedroom section.

They browsed the catalogue carefully, examining the different furniture sets and styles. After a while they selected a couch, a low table, some shelving units, and a pair of throw blankets for the living room, along with a set of three tall stools for the breakfast bar. Boba picked out a little desk with a matching chair, a wardrobe, and a bookshelf finished with smooth, matte white paint for his own room.

They were startled from their focused shopping by a soft chiming noise echoing through the apartment from the entryway.

“ _I think that’s the doorbell, buir,”_ Boba said, and Jango rose to his feet.

“ _It_ _’s probably our food then,”_ He said, walking into the long hallway. “ _Keep looking for some other things for the house, ad’ika, I’ll go get it.”_ Jango turned into the entryway and stepped down onto the tiled floor, peeking through the peephole and seeing a sleek little delivery droid sitting patiently outside in the hall, a flat cardboard box held in its arms. He opened the door and the droid whistled at him in Binary, asking if he was one Ser Nasaade who had ordered two noodle bowls. 

“That would be me, thank you,” Jango said, fishing a few credits out of his pocket and handing them to the delivery droid. There was a slight pause as it counted the currency, then it beeped in satisfaction and held out the box for Jango to take. Once he had a hold on it, the droid thanked him for ordering from _Enad’kea_ and did a little spin in place before rolling away down the hall. Jango backed through the front door and turned to walk down the entryway, letting it shut behind him automatically. He could feel the heat from the broth through the cardboard, and the scent of the aromatics used in it were beginning to filter up to his nose. 

_“Here’s dinner, Boba - it smells pretty good!”_ He said as he returned to the kitchen. Boba sat up straight when he saw the box in Jango’s hands and set the datapad aside.

“ _That was pretty fast, we only got through the furniture for the living room and my room before it got here!”_ He said as Jango kneeled beside him on the kitchen floor and opened the lid of the cardboard box. The incredible smell of aromatic spices and rich bone broth filled the kitchen, and Jango handed Boba the bowl with a loopy scribble on it that vaguely resembled the word ‘shaak’ written in Aurebesh.

Jango passed Boba a set of utensils and popped the lid off his bowl, releasing a cloud of wonderful smelling steam. Thick, pale noodles whorled around the fried tofu cubes and the colorful assortment of veggies, all suspended in a creamy, pale yellow broth. As Jango opened up the sealed packet of disposable utensils, he glanced over at Boba’s bowl; swimming in dark, red-brown broth were the same thick noodles along with thin slices of stewed shaak meat and lightly blanched vegetables. Even from a few feet away Jango could feel the spice in the broth tickling at his nose.

 _“It looks good, Bob’ika,”_ He said, and Boba nodded enthusiastically as he split his chopsticks and maneuvered a couple noodles into his mouth. 

_“It_ is _good! ‘s nice and spicy, not at all like the gross stir fry we had last week.”_ Jango smiled as Boba hummed his enjoyment and picked up a few noodles of his own. He slurped them loudly to cool them off a little, and had to hold back a groan of pure delight. The noodles were perfectly cooked, and had soaked up a little of the creamy curry flavor of the broth during their trip from the noodle place to their apartment. Next Jango sampled one of the fried tofu cubes; the fried outer layer was still a little crunchy, and the soft inside seemed to have been marinated in the curry broth before its dip in the fryer. The vegetables were still a tiny bit crunchy under his teeth and piping hot - perfectly cooked, by his standards. Jango lifted his bowl to his lips and blew on the surface of the broth a few times before sipping up a small mouthful. Again, it was a hit - the curry was of excellent quality, and the flavors of the base broth weren’t overpowered by its spice blend.

When they had eaten all of the noodles and toppings and were just beginning to start sipping the remaining broth from their bowls, the front door chimed again. Jango set his chopsticks down and went to go answer it, glancing through the peephole just in case. A delivery droid had rung the doorbell, and next to its sturdy chassis sat Jango’s shipping crate. He opened up the door and the droid whistled at him in Binary, inquiring if he’d like for it to move the crate directly into the apartment for him.

“That’d be appreciated, thank you,” he replied, waving for the droid to follow him as he walked back down the entrance hallway and into the living room. It trailed a few steps behind him, its hoverfield locked onto the crate. Boba watched the droid from behind the rim of his takeout bowl as it set the crate down in the middle of the living room floor.

“Thank you for your time,” Jango said to it, and it whistled in farewell before floating back out of the living room. the sound of the front door closing reached them a few moments later, and Jango turned to the crate. He input his passcode into the lock on the lid, which split in two and folded back to reveal the contents.

Inside the crate was a mess of items Jango had purchased and packed away upon learning that the apartment was available: fresher tissue, an electric tea kettle and a tin of behot, spicy instant noodle packets from the _shakraan_ on Corellia, all of his and Boba’s other clothes, a tiny toaster oven, dishware and cutlery, and enough toiletries for the both of them. Jango began to extract the toaster oven and the electric teakettle, setting the appliances down on the floor next to the crate.

 _“Bob’ika, are you done with your food?”_ There was a loud slurp and a quiet belch from behind the breakfast bar.

_“I am now, buir.”_

_“Would you mind putting the teakettle and the behot on the kitchen counter next to the sink?”_ He asked as he pulled the towel-wrapped bundle that contained their dishes and cutlery out of the crate.

 _“Sure thing, buir! Do you want me to take the plates and stuff into the kitchen afterwards?”_

“ _That’d be very helpful, thank you.”_ Jango continued to unpack the crate, and once it was empty the living room floor was covered in its contents, sorted into neat piles. Boba returned from putting the dishes in the kitchen and examined all the different things on the floor with a contemplative look.

 _“We’re not gonna be able to remember where all this goes,”_ Jango predicted, and Boba shrugged.

 _“Maybe we can try putting labels on the different cabinets and stuff?”_ he suggested, digging around in the shipping crate for the small box of pencils, styluses, and other miscellaneous stationary. 

_“That would work,”_ Jango nodded, and reached to pick up one of the towel covered dish bundles. “ _Would you like to make the labels while I start putting all this stuff away?”_

_“Sure! Can I doodle on them a little so they’re pretty?”_

_“Of course, Boba.”_

Then the work began. As Jango ferried the things that lived in the kitchen to their respective cabinets, Boba quickly made a baker’s dozen of labels reading _Mugs, Plates, Bowls_ and the like. Once they had put away all of the kitchen objects and labeled the cabinets and drawers they were in, they moved on to the fresher. Their towel sets were hung up on towel rods or refolded and tucked into a little shelf under the sink, next to the rolls of fresher tissue. Next, they reconvened in the living room.

 _“Let’s make your bed now, Boba, you’re probably gonna start feeling pretty tired soon,”_ Jango suggested, picking up the flat vacuum sealed package that held their two foam mattress rolls. 

“ _Okay! I’ll meet you in my room, then!”_ Boba said, scooping up his bundle of bed linens and running off down the hall, his socked feet sliding around a little on the synthwood flooring. Jango opened the seal and pulled out the squashed and wrinkly looking mattress pads, shaking one out and leaving the other standing on its rolled end on the living room floor. 

He walked down the hall and through Boba’s open door. Boba had opened up the bundle and was in the process of sorting them by the order in which they would be placed on the bed.

 _“Would you help me flatten this out please, Boba?”_ Jango asked, unrolling the mattress pad and shaking it a little.

 _“Sure!”_ Boba said, then gave a soft little yawn, shaking his head sharply as he walked forward and grabbed the other end of the mattress pad.

Together, Jango and Boba shook out the mattress pad until it wasn’t sad and flat and wrinkly anymore and arranged it in front of the bay window, setting the side that curled inwards down. 

Then they tucked the underpad and fitted sheet around it, being sure to center the squashy bit of the mattress pad so it wasn’t lopsided. Next came the soft woolsilk blanket and the synthdown duvet on top of it. Boba passed Jango his two pillows, which he’d tucked into pillowcases patterned with tiny cartoon tookas, and Jango set them at the head of the bed.

_“Go brush your teeth now, ad’ika, and I'll clean up from dinner. Come get me when you’re done and I’ll tuck you in, okay?”_

“ _Okay!”_ Boba yawned, and shuffled out into the hallway. Jango finished straightening the blankets on Boba’s bed and went back into the kitchen. He stacked the takeout bowls inside one another and put them in the waste disposal chute, then wiped down the few minor splatters of broth that had fallen onto the kitchen floor with the dish sponge. Boba hadn’t emerged from the fresher yet, so Jango returned to the objects still on the living room floor. He picked up the toaster oven and carried it into the kitchen, setting on the counter near the pantry. He heard the soft padding of bare feet on the synthwood floor of the hallway and turned around just in time to see Boba enter the doorway of the kitchen, rubbing at his face as he yawned again.

 _“Buir, I’m done now,”_ Boba informed him. Jango walked over and scooped him up when Boba held up his arms, balancing him on his hip.

 _“Okay. Did you get the fronts and the backs?"_ He asked as he carried his son down the hallway and into his room.

“ _Y_ _ep! I borrowed a little bit of your floss too, but I could only figure out how to get between my front teeth mostly.”_ Boba said as Jango set him down on his bed.

 _“That’s fine, ad’ika.”_ Jango replied as Boba peeled back the covers and slid underneath them. He sat on the edge of the bed and smiled softly at his son. _“Would you like a story tonight, or are you too sleepy?”_

 _“Too, ah, too sleepy.”_ Boba yawned, curling into a little ball and snuggling into his pillows.

 _“Okay. Sleep well then, Boba. I love you.”_ Jango said, brushing an unruly curl out of Boba’s face.

_ “Night night buir.” _ He mumbled, shutting his eyes and sighing softly. Jango smiled and left Boba’s room, flicking off the light as he went and sliding the door shut behind him. He sighed and rubbed at his eyes, all the exhaustion of the day crashing down on him in a heavy, tired wave. He walked back into the living room and to finish finding homes for the rest of the items still arranged on the floor. He paused next to the breakfast bar and sighed heavily, the sight of the half-unpacked box making him feel even more tired — he definitely needed something to keep him awake for the next hour. He went into the kitchen and plugged in the electric kettle, removing the carafe and filling it up under the sink. After setting back on its base he set the temperature and turned it on. As the water began to heat, he opened the slightly beat up tin of  _ behot _ leaves and fished out the little metal strainer inside before putting the tin to his nose and taking a long slow breath. He smiled in soft pleasure at the familiar aroma of citrus wafting up from the shriveled little leaves. He opened up the cabinet and took out one of the mugs before shaking a little bit of the  _ behot _ into it. Right on time, the teakettle beeped quietly, signalling that the water inside had reached the target temperature.

He lifted the carafe off of the base and poured some into his mug, sending the behot leaves swirling around the sides. He replaced the carafe and counted out the seconds in his head as he watched the  _ behot _ stain the water a dark, vibrant purple. Once it reached the particular strength he liked, Jango fished the strainer out of his mug and set it in the sink to be taken care of later. He picked up his mug and walked around the carefully arranged objects on the living room floor to the bay window, scooping up his datapad as he went. After taking a seat and glancing out over the shimmerkelp forest, he flicked on the datapad and continued his search for furniture as he waited for the behot to cool enough for him to drink it.

Jango picked out a bed frame, a nightstand, and a desk with drawers and shelves built into its legs along with a chair to go with it. In addition, he selected a set of bookshelves, a wardrobe, and a pair of medium weight curtains for the bay window. Then he went into the cart menu — wincing a bit at the estimated total price — before going down the long list of items and looking at what Boba had picked out. There were a few things he removed or swapped out for less expensive options, like the rug for the living room and a couple of unnecessary pillows — although when he found a big, velvety looking plush tooka he smiled and left it in the cart. 

Satisfied with all the things that remained on the shopping list, he carefully went through the payment process and was a little relieved when the proximity of the printing depot and his choice of ship-when-ready delivery knocked the total down a significant amount. When the holonet page displayed that his purchase had been completed he rubbed at his eyes and yawned widely, his jaw popping. He set the datapad aside and picked up his cup of  _ behot _ , which was now cool enough to drink. Jango sipped it slowly, and once he’d swallowed the last mouthful of tea he felt that familiar combination of relaxed and slightly energized. He rose and put his cup in the kitchen sink next to the strainer to be cleaned the next morning, then returned to the living room to collect the remaining mattress pad before heading into his room.

Jango went through the motions of making his bed, eyes growing heavier by the minute. The final product wasn’t as neatly done as Boba’s, but it would work just as well. He peeled back the covers and slid beneath them, rolling over to face the flowing organic shapes of the bay window. The light from the shimmerkelp poured into the room in strange, shifting beams. Occasionally tiny shadows flickered by, sometimes followed by the dark silhouettes of larger predators. His mind seemed to race as his eyes grew heavy, his breathing slowing as he set the weight of the day down. 

The strange light was beautiful, Jango thought sleepily. There had been little light on the spice freighter, other than the emergency lights and the violent crackle of the slavers’ electric whips. He had been worried, at first, that living miles below the last vestiges of sunlight would drag his mind back to the freighter; but there was light down here, in the dark twin of the void between stars. Jango’s vision became soft and unfocused as he slipped closer to the realm of dreams. Eventually, he shut his eyes and pulled the blankets over his head, the warmth within the cocoon of fabric sending him off into sleep.

The shadows in the corners of the room shuddered, their edges staticky and undefined. After a moment, they bloomed across the floor, sliding over the synthwood planks to circle Jango's bed in a thousand dark fragments like a school of curious fish.


End file.
